• Make sure you have a 1) thesis statement/ argument and 2) road map for your paper (right at the beginning). Strong essays will refute counterarguments as well.
• Draw out the themes/ large conceptual issues. Strong essays get beyond the empirics of the case studies and tie them to the larger theoretical issues.
• If you have more than one case study, make sure there is rationale for your case selection. What theme or subthemes are you addressing and how do these cases work together? (Some students throw different cases together and consequently the essay lacks overall coherence.) There should be a “red thread” running through your paper.
• Signal to your reader that you did the assigned readings for class. Do not cite only outside readings. Strong essays will do both but I first want to see that you did the readings assigned for class.
• Essays should be related to issues we discussed in class. Do not use material from other essays/ assignments.